The 19th Hole
by KatRose
Summary: Post-ep fic for the Season 1 finale: what happens after the phone rang
1. Chapter 1

A/N: The characters aren't mine, I'm only borrowing them from the producers and writers of _The Glades_. All errors are mine and mine alone.

Chapter 1

Jim woke up in stages. First stage: Realizing his body was completely and totally relaxed, a state he hadn't been in for a long time. Second stage: He smelled flowers and felt hair brushing his chest. Third stage: Awareness that he wasn't in bed at home, or alone. He sighed and opened his eyes to see Callie lying curled into his body.

Smiling to himself, he lightly brushed Callie's hair off her face so he could see her sleeping. She looked so contented and relaxed, and sexy as hell. At the last thought, he felt himself get hard again, but refrained from doing anything more than just look at her. He couldn't believe she'd not only opened the door after his bungling at the grocery store, but kissed him and more. He'd wanted this more than anything in his adult life and it amazed him that it was his.

He leaned over and gently kissed her cheek before climbing slowly out of bed and dashing off to the bathroom. Moments later he stood in the doorway and watched Callie sleep. "_I can't believe I'm here_," he thought. "_How'd I get so lucky?_" Callie shifted in her sleep and he grabbed his jeans then walked out, not wanting to wake her.

Jim looked around the living room and began picking up the clothes they'd left behind in their rush to the bedroom. Laughing softly to himself, he draped them over the back of the chair and went into the kitchen to make some coffee. His stomach grumbled loudly and he figured he could do something nice for Callie by making her breakfast.

Just as the food was coming off the stove, he heard Callie's voice, "You made breakfast."

"Ah, yeah. I hope you don't mind…" he started.

"That's bacon," she interrupted. "I love bacon."

"Coffee and eggs and fresh juice."

"You squeezed fresh juice?"

"I did."

Jim expected a 'thank you', but got much more when Callie opened her arms and stood on tiptoe to give him a heartfelt and passionate kiss. He had just gathered her in for more contact when the phone rang.

"I need to get that, it could be Jeff," she said as she reluctantly pulled away.

Jim followed her around the table, not wanting to be too far away from her, not after waiting so long to be with her. As she answered the phone, he wrapped his arms around her waist and nuzzled her neck causing her to giggle.

"Hello," she said, expecting to hear her son's voice.

"Hey, baby," a much deeper voice said in her ear.

As she said, "Ray, uh, how'd you get straight through?" Jim pulled back, knowing she needed some space in which to deal with her husband. He watched as she leaned back against the sink and asked, "Ray, what did you do?" He couldn't hear what Ray was saying, but he could tell by Callie's body language and the tension in her voice, that it wasn't good. "I hope you didn't do something stupid," she said into the phone.

The next few minutes were the longest Jim had experienced in recent memory. He felt Callie physically withdraw from him and watched her face cloud over with confusion and raw emotion. When she looked at him, he felt a punch in his gut; it felt like she was saying good-bye…to him.

It seemed like forever before she pressed the End button. Even then, she held onto the handset as if it could anchor her in the here and now. Jim waited for her to speak, not wanting to hear what she had to say, but not wanting her to go through whatever it was alone.

Finally, she put the phone down and said, "That was Ray." She shook her head at the stupidity of that comment.

Jim wanted to do nothing more than open his arms and hold her, but he knew she'd resist the urge. She was too used to having to be the strong one, the one that handled all of life's ill alone. She wouldn't thank him for trying to intrude, even if it was with the best of intentions.

She walked towards him, and then reached around him at the last moment for the dishes on the table. Picking them up, she said, "He's getting out."

"Out?" Jim asked with as little emotion in his voice as he could muster.

"Yeah. He's coming home." Callie's voice was extremely neutral.

No emotion leaked in at all and Jim couldn't tell if she was upset, confused, angry, happy or just numb. He was betting on numb. "When?" he asked carefully.

"Soon. That's all he said. Soon." She scraped the food into the sink and started to fill one side with hot water.

Jim walked to the sink and put his hands on hers. "Callie, stop." He pulled the plate from her hand and put it on the counter. "Tell me what he said."

Callie turned around and looked up at Jim. Her eyes moved over his face as if to memorize it. She reached up tentatively and touched his cheek, then traced the outline of his lips. Jim stood waiting for her to speak, not wanting to stop her, but knowing they needed to talk before anything else happened.

"He said he missed me, missed Jeff, and made a deal with the DA to get out of prison…early," she said quietly. "He helped them close a few cold cases and he's getting out."

She dropped her arm and started to walk around Jim to get the rest of the dishes. He stood back and said, just as softly, "Okay."

"Okay," she mumbled, moving around him again. "Okay," she repeated, each time getting a little louder. "Okay?" she finally shouted. "That's all you have to say? 'Okay'?" The last word was punctuated by dishes breaking as they were shoved into the sink. She wheeled on him and said, "After all of … this," she motioned between the two of them, "you have nothing more to say?"

Jim stood a mere foot away from her and could feel the anger and fear radiating outward. He leaned forward, putting one arm on either side of her, pinning her to the sink. He looked directly into her eyes and said with force, "I have a lot more to say, but he's still your husband. I don't have a right to tell you what to do."

She put her hands on his chest and shoved hard. "That's right," she said angrily, "we only slept together. What right does that give you?" She moved across the kitchen, intent on leaving the place where her dreams had been shattered. "I don't need you to tell me anything!"

Jim followed her into the living room, yelling, "Don't give me that bullshit! You know, as well as I do, that what happened last night was not about sex! I …"

Callie stopped and whirled on him, "You what?"

Jim took the three steps necessary to reach Callie and pulled her roughly into his arms and kissed her. He poured his heart out through his mouth and into hers, wanting more than anything to say the words that would make everything better. He felt her melting into him and kiss him back with as much passion as he was giving her. Then she stopped and pulled away.

"That's not an answer," she spat out, wiping the corners of her mouth.

"No, it's not, but it is," he stammered. At her incredulous look, he tried to explain. "You know how I feel about you, Cal. It's been hell being with you without being, well, **with** you. And now," he gestured towards the kitchen, "now Ray's coming back. I don't want to lose you, but I don't know if I have the right to tell you what to do or ask that I be included in the decision."

Callie couldn't hold Jim's gaze and looked at the floor. She noticed that she was only wearing Jim's shirt and tugged at the hem, trying to pull it lower on her legs. When that didn't work, she grabbed a blanket from the back of the couch and pulled it around her, putting a physical barrier between Jim and her runaway emotions.

He continued, "I'd love to say, 'Let's run away together, you, me and Jeff', but I know that's not the answer for any of this. It's your life, yours and Jeff's and…Ray's." The last word left a terrible taste in Jim's mouth. "What do _you_ want?" he said, echoing his query from weeks before.

Dropping the blanket, Callie walked up to Jim, grabbed his face and kissed him like she had that night so many weeks ago. And just like that night, she backed away all too soon. "What I want doesn't matter. What I want has to take a backseat to what is best for my son." She put her hand on his chest and whispered, "I want you, Jim. Never doubt that." Then she walked into her bedroom and closed the door.

Jim stood staring at the door, wanting nothing more than to walk in there and make love to Callie one more time. Wanting to hold her close and whisper words of love and devotion. But he knew her well enough to know that he'd be rebuffed for the effort. Instead, he went into the kitchen to clean up the remnants of breakfast before going home.

.

Jim was staring at his computer screen when Manus stuck her head in the door. "We have a body down at the pier." When he didn't look up, she came into the office and rapped on his desk, finally getting his attention. "Earth to Jim. You okay?"

"Huh? Wha'?" he stuttered, startled out of his reverie. "Yeah. Fine. What's up?"

"Body. Pier. Want it?" she asked, not believing for a moment he was fine.

"Sure. Where am I going?" After she gave him the address, he left and went down to autopsy. "Carlos, get your stuff, we're going."

"Where?"

"Pier. We got a body." Jim didn't wait for Carlos to say anything else, he just walked out of the building knowing his friend would catch up.

Carlos climbed into Jim's car and waited about five minutes before asking, "What's going on?"

"Dead body."

"I gathered." After a momentary pause, he continued, "No, I mean with you."

Jim didn't answer, he just stared straight ahead.

"Okay, man," Carlos said. "But I know something's up. Callie was all psycho woman the other night; you've been moping around for a couple of days and now this. I may normally deal with dead bodies, but even I can see something's amiss here."

Jim didn't break the silence until they pulled up to the crime scene. As he opened the door to get out, he said, "Ray's getting out of prison." With that, he walked away, leaving Carlos' mouth hanging open and scrambling to catch up.

By the time Carlos arrived at the body, Jim was all business. "Vic's name is Kriege Whistler from Tallahassee. Age 32. Gunshot to the head."

Carlos knelt down, trying not to get his trousers full of sand and began his initial exam. "There's some stippling, so she was shot at close range. Body's in rigor so it's been at least three hours. I won't know more until I get her back and open her up."

Jim nodded, getting to his feet and looking around the underside of the pier. "Why is it we always find bodies in the ugliest and dirtiest places? Why can't we find them somewhere, I don't know, clean and pretty?"

"You mean like a golf course?" Carlos retorted.

Jim's breath caught in his throat as images from yesterday flashed through his mind. The murder scene, the game, the trip to Callie's. Shaking his head to clear it, he glared at Carlos, but said nothing. He noticed one of the officers putting down numbered cones, denoting they found something of interest that needed to be photographed. Striding over, he bent down to look at the bullet casing.

"Carlos, looks like a 9mil. What was she shot with?"

"9mil."

Jim indicated to the officer to bag it and continued nosing around the scene. Not seeing anything else that piqued his interest, he walked back to Carlos. "I'll see you back at the station. I'm going to see if I can find a witness."

Carlos watched as Jim walked away, noting his dejected posture and general inattentiveness. The fact that Jim hadn't gotten sarcastic with anyone was a sure sign his head wasn't in the game. Telling himself that he'd keep a watchful eye on Jim, Carlos went back to the work at hand.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Jim stood staring out over the water, not really sure what he was doing. He was grateful that he had a case to work on, but even that wasn't giving him any respite from the empty feeling in his stomach. He spied a homeless man sitting with a dog about fifteen yards away, studiously ignoring the police activity under the pier. Striding over, he sat down next to the man and put his hand out for the dog to sniff.

"Nice dog," he said, still looking out to sea.

The man grunted, patting the dog's head. "She's a good'un. Don't bark much."

Jim nodded in understanding. "Did she bark last night?"

"Nope," the man replied, now scratching the dog's ears. After a momentary pause, he added, "But she did growl a bit."

"Hm. Do you know about when?"

The man turned to look at Jim and asked, "Do I look like I wear a watch?"

Jim had to smile a bit, "No, but you might know if it was before or after the bars closed down."

"Before."

"Did you see anything?"

"Nope. Sally woke me up from a dead sleep."

Jim nodded again, filing the information away for future reference. He stood up, then asked, "Hey, where do you guys sleep?" The man's face shuttered, hesitant to answer. Jim said, "Unless you did something to that lady, I don't care where you slept, just gotta know which prints to eliminate from the crime scene."

"We sleep over there," he said, indicating under the pier. "Got my stuff tucked way back under." He gave the officers a hard glare and said to Jim, "If'n they take any of it, I'll sue for theft."

"We gotta take it for a while, but you'll get it back," Jim replied. "Assuming there's not a gun in there." He started to walk away, then turned back and asked, "You said you didn't see anything, but did you _hear_ anything?"

The man didn't say anything, just stared out over the water, scratching Sally's ears.

"Hey, man, I don't want to bust you for anything, but I got a murderer to catch. You can talk to me here or back at the station and I don't think Sally would like the station."

Turning his gaze to Jim, the man said, "Yeah. Heard a couple arguing. Nothing unusual 'bout that 'round here. Didn't hear no gunshot or anything."

"What were they arguing about?"

"Dunno. Sally and me was tryin' to sleep."

Jim leaned down to pat the dog's head and walked away.

.

Jim ran into Daniel as he came back up the beach and onto the pier. "Carlos told me to wait for you since he took the van back to the station."

Jim nodded distractedly, then looked up, startled to see someone in front of him. "Oh, Daniel. You're here."

Daniel rolled his eyes at Jim and said, "Yeah. Carlos told me to wait for you."

"Great. Can you see if there's any surveillance footage of the pier last night?"

"Sure." Daniel started to walk away, then looked back at Jim. "You gonna be around or should I find another way back to the station?"

"Yeah, I'll be here. Going to see if anyone at the bars saw anything."

.

Jim strode into the first bar and up to the barkeeper. Holding up his phone with a picture of the dead woman on it, he asked, "Did you see this woman last night?"

Taking a quick look, the woman said, "No, but we get hundreds in here every night, so she might have been here."

Jim looked around and asked the same question to one of the waitresses. He got the same answer. Leaving the first bar he repeated his questions through three other establishments before he got a positive response.

"Yeah, she was here," the waitress at Dizzy's said. "Was over there," she indicated the back corner, "with a guy."

"What'd he look like?"

"Not tall, but not short. Red hair, not bad looking."

"Did you see or hear anything between them?"

"Not really. Looked kinda cozy until the other guy showed up."

"What other guy?"

"He looked a bit like you," she said, giving Jim the once over, "tall, dark, very easy on the eyes."

Jim didn't acknowledge her flirting. "What happened when he showed up?"

"It got a little, well, heated."

"How so?"

"Red hair tried to stop the tall guy from getting close to the girl. Tall guy wasn't having any of it. Pushed Red hair away and grabbed the girl. Then stormed out."

"What happened to Red hair?"

"He tried to follow, but he couldn't make it through the crowd before they disappeared out the side door. I got distracted by a customer and never saw him again."

Jim looked around, eyeing both the front and side doors. "Do you have cameras on either door?"

The woman shouted over her shoulder, "Hey, Dave. Cop here wants tapes of last night."

A man stuck his head out of the office door. Seeing Jim holding up his badge, he said, "Yeah, sure. Let me burn a disk for you."

A short time later, Jim was walking out with a CD in hand and looking around for Daniel. He found him standing next to the Charger, holding an old fashioned video cassette in his hands. "Got it," he shouted out. Jim gave him a quick nod and unlocked the door. Before Daniel had a chance to buckle up, Jim had put the car in gear and tore out of the parking lot.

.

When they got back to the station house, Daniel took both recordings to the tech room while Jim headed back to his office. He was about to sit down when his cell phone rang.

"Longworth."

"Hi, Jim."

Jim sagged into his chair at the sound of Callie's voice in his ear. "Hi."

"I'm sorry about this morning," she said softly. "I don't know what got into me."

"It's been a crazy couple of days," he replied. "You doing okay?"

Callie sighed. "I don't know. I just needed to hear your voice."

He gave a small laugh, "I needed to hear your voice, too. Do you want me to come over later?"

He could almost hear her smile through the phone. "Yeah, but probably not a good idea. Jeff should be home this afternoon and I need to tell him about his dad." She got quiet for a moment. "I don't know what's going to happen, Jim. I know he's missed his dad and will be excited to know he'll be home soon. I don't know how to tell him everything else." She paused again. "With us. With you."

Jim wanted to reach through the phone and pull her into his arms. He wanted to relieve her pain or, at the very least, soothe it with kisses and gentle touches. Not being able to do any of that, he said, "I'll be here whenever you – and Jeff – need me. I'm not going anywhere, Cal. I want you with me and I'll do whatever it takes to make that happen."

"Thank you, Jim. That means a lot to me." Jim could hear her swallow back a sob when she said, "I'll call you later." She hung up before he had a chance to say anything else.

He looked at the phone as he put it back into his pocket. Such a small piece of electronics to cause so much heartache. Between Ray's call this morning and Callie's call just now, he wasn't sure he ever wanted to answer another phone again. Then the phone on his desk rang. He picked it up, saying, "Longworth."


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

.

Jim arrived in Carlos' lab a short while later. "Whatcha got?"

"Time of death is between 1 and 3 AM," Carlos replied, looking up from the autopsy table. "9 mm bullet pierced her head just above her left temple and exited out the back, taking a chunk of skull with it. Angle of the wound indicates that the shooter was about six to eight inches taller than her. She's 5 foot 4 inches tall, so the shooter was probably just over six foot tall. There were no defensive wounds, so she probably didn't know what was happening until it was too late, but there was some bruising on her left upper arm. There was some tissue under her nails, but I won't have those results back until at least tomorrow morning."

"Did Daniel get anything from the video?"

"Yes, I did," Daniel replied as he came into the room. He went over to Carlos' computer and tapped the keys for a moment before stepping back. On screen was an image of Kriege walking out of the bar with a tall, dark-haired man who had a firm grip on her left arm.

Jim leaned in and asked, "Can you play it forward?"

Daniel hit another button and the video began to play. There was no sound, but the bar had installed high definition color cameras, so everything was pretty clear. They watched as the guy manhandled Kriege out the door and up the alley towards the beach. It was obvious that she didn't want to go with him by the way she was hitting and kicking at him. Unfortunately, due to her size, she didn't have much of an impact on him.

They continued to watch until the couple was out of sight. Daniel then leaned back over the keyboard and started up a second video. "Once Dr. Sanchez told me what time to look for, it was pretty easy to find her on the tapes. This is them coming past the front door and out onto the pier."

It took about thirty seconds for the arguing couple to get past the second camera and out of view. Daniel, once again, hit a few keys and pulled up the last of the footage. They saw the man finally release the woman, who tried to get away, but he didn't let her get far. The two argued heatedly for a couple of minutes before she hit him in the gut with her fists and when he stepped back in surprise, she darted down the stairs and out onto the sand. The last image they had was of the man running after her.

"Were you able to get any identifying stills of the guy?" Jim asked, still staring at the computer screen.

"Yeah, one." Daniel clicked another couple of keys and pulled up a picture that showed part of the man's face and right side. It wasn't enough to run through facial recognition software, but it might be enough to match up with Kriege's associates and make an ID that way.

"Can you send it to my Blackberry?" Jim asked. Moments later he was reviewing the image on the smaller screen. "What do we know about Kriege?"

Daniel recited the basics, "Age 32. Originally from Tallahassee, but recently moved to Palm Glades. She works for a telecom company as a sales rep. Married, no children."

"What about her husband?"

"Jonathan Whistler. Age 36. Active duty National Guard deployed to Iraq. According to the Guard, he's been shipped State-side and stationed in St. Augustine." At this point, Daniel looked up from the screen. "Though it's not yet official, the guy I talked to didn't know where Whistler was. He was scheduled to report to duty at 8 this morning, but hasn't shown up. They haven't classified him AWOL, yet, but expect to soon. They also told me that Whistler has quite a bad reputation."

"What kind?" Carlos asked.

"He's a mean drunk. He's been put in hack at least twice in the last year, both times overseas. The last time was over a woman."

Jim's ears perked up. "What happened?"

"It was reported that Whistler hit an officer. He claimed the officer was hitting on one of the enlisted women and he stepped into defend her. The official report has it the other way around."

Jim nodded and, smiling wryly, said, "Road trip?"

..

Manus quashed the idea of a road trip to St. Augustine, but that didn't stop Jim and Carlos from escaping the station for elsewhere. They rode in silence to Kriege's apartment, hoping to find some information on her erstwhile husband and the man she was with at the bar.

They got the manager to let them in, then put on gloves before starting their investigation in the living room. Carlos pointed to the pictures on the mantle, "Husband?"

Jim peered at the photo and said, "Red head. Probably the boyfriend from the bar."

Carlos handed the frame to Jim, who slid the back off, hoping to see names scrawled across the back. He was partially right. "Steven. No last name." He replaced the backing and put it into an evidence bag. They continued to snoop through Kriege's belongings. They were in the bedroom looking through her dresser when they heard a key turn in the front door.

As Jim drew his gun and motioned for Carlos to stay in the bedroom, Carlos hissed, "If I get shot, you're going to have to be the one to tell Maris." Jim threw a quick grin over his shoulder before stepping into the hallway just as the door opened.

He waited until the red haired man closed the door before saying loudly, "Don't move. Police." The man jumped and spun at the same time, letting out a yelp in surprise. Seeing Jim holding a gun, pointed directly at him, he carefully put his hands up and tried to hold them there without trembling.

"What are you doing here?" Jim asked, motioning for him to enter the living room.

The man waved his hands a bit asking, "C… can I put them down?" After Jim nodded, he relaxed slightly, wiping his hands on his pant legs. "I, I live here," he stuttered.

"Who are you?" Carlos asked from behind, making him jump.

"Ack!" he yelped again. Taking a deep breath he tried to answer the questions before him. "My name's Steve Carlton. I live here." Noting that Jim had put his gun away, he asked, "Why are you here and what's with the gun?"

"Does Kriege Whistler live here?" Jim asked, ignoring the questions.

"Yes."

"Why didn't the manager know you lived here?"

"Well, um," Steve started. "It's complicated."

Jim grimaced as another reminder of Callie came at him. "Complicated how?"

Steve cleared his throat and looked around the apartment. "Well, Kriege was married and, well, it wasn't to me."

"Did her husband know that you were living with her?"

"If you'd asked me that two days ago, I would have said no. But he knows now." Steve sighed heavily and sank into the couch.

"Why's that?" Jim asked.

"He was deployed in Iraq for two tours; was part of the last wave of Americans to leave the country and come home."

"So, you decided to move into another man's life and not even thank him for it," Jim snarked.

"That's not how it was," Steve retorted. "Jon wasn't around, left Kriege alone. He called her periodically, but she was left to run the home and take care of things without help or guidance from him. He might as well have been in prison for all the attention he paid to her."

Carlos shot Jim a look, gauging how much of what Steve said was hitting close to home. He saw his friend's face harden at the similarities between the two relationships, but didn't outwardly react. As long as Jim wasn't allowing his own situation to color his view of the case, Carlos decided to let him keep going without interference.

"When did he find out about you?" Jim asked sharply.

"Two days ago." Steve opened his hands in supplication, as if asking God for it to never have happened. Suddenly Steve realized he still didn't have an answer to his question. "Hey! You never said why you were here."

Jim was blunt, "She's dead. Bullet to the head." He watched the other man's reaction with interest. He wasn't disappointed.

"That bastard. He did it, didn't he?" he shouted, leaping to his feet and began pacing the length of the room. "That son of a bitch! He did it, he really did it."

When Steve took a breath, Jim interjected, "Who did _it_? Who is _he_? What did _he_ do?"

Steve whirled around, eyes glaring and anger rolling off him in waves. "_He_ is her bloody bastard of a husband. She filed for divorce a few months ago, had him served overseas. She'd been waiting for him to come home before she did it, but she didn't want to wait any longer. He was still acting as if they were in love, when all she wanted to do was get away from him."

Feeling like this case might give him some insight into his own situation, he asked, "I take it didn't go as planned."

"No. After he got the paperwork, he called her even more often. Tried to talk to her about reconciling or at least waiting until he got home before proceeding. The last time she talked to him she told him she wasn't waiting anymore."

"What was his reaction?"

"He yelled at her. Accused her of cheating on him. The typical BS."

"But wasn't she?" Jim asked, with more sensitivity than he was usually known for.

Steve sighed and nodded. "Yeah, you could say that. But, it wasn't like we were just running around having hot monkey sex. We love, damn it, loved, each other." Steve dropped his head into his hands, grinding his palms into his eyes to keep the tears from flowing.

"So what happened two days ago?"

Steve went into the kitchen and got a glass of water, drinking it down before answering. "Kriege wasn't home, I was expecting her call, so I answered the phone. It was Jon."

"Uh-oh," Carlos chimed in.

"Yeah, pretty much. He exploded, said I was a dead man. Said he'd be back in Florida tomorrow … yesterday … and was coming to get me and the whore I was sleeping with. I hung up. He tried to call again, but I let the answering machine pick it up."

"Did he leave a message?"

"Yes, but when Kriege heard it, she deleted it."

"Okay. Now what happened last night?"

Steve shook his head as if wanting to deny anything bad had happened, then said, "Jon knew Kriege's address, so we wanted to be out of here in case he showed up. We went out to dinner and a movie, then over to Dizzy's because it's where we first met. We were, obviously, anxious about going home, so we were debating about getting a hotel room for the night when he showed up."

Steve swallowed hard, trying hard not to let his voice break as he continued. "He came in yelling and calling her names. I tried to get between them, but he just backhanded me. I'm not a small guy," he defended, "but when someone of my stature goes up against a Guard trained brute, I'm going to lose. While I was trying to get my feet back under me, he grabbed Kriege and left. I ran out the front door, but couldn't see them anywhere, so I went back in to grab her purse and cell. I hoped if I could get his phone to ring, I'd be able to find them. Unfortunately, that didn't happen."

Carlos noticed that Jim was staring out the window in an apparent daze and was about to say something when Jim blurted out, "Sorry, don't believe you. I'm taking you in." He pulled his cuffs out of his back pocket and said, "Let's go."

Carlos stared at him in amazement, wanting to say something, but not sure what, given the circumstances. Instead he trailed after the other two men and locked the door before leaving the former love nest of their vic and the man now in Jim's custody.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Jim stood on one side of the one-way glass with Manus looking at Steve sitting alone in the interrogation room. She waited patiently for him to process his thoughts and tell her what was on his mind. After a few minutes, Jim said, "I can't imagine giving up so quickly if my girlfriend was pulled out of a bar like Kriege was." He lapsed into silence again, not moving a muscle as he stared through the window.

Manus broke the silence to ask, "What would you do?"

"I'd have fought for her from the start."

"But he was knocked off balance and she was gone before he got back to his feet," she countered.

"Doesn't matter. If you love someone, you fight for them, no matter what."

"So, go ask him why he didn't," she encouraged. "I'm sure you can get something out of him. In the meantime, I've sent a couple of officers to track down Whistler. The Guard classified him AWOL, so they're going to help from their end. Maybe we'll get lucky."

Jim nodded, then sauntered into the interview room. Steve looked up as he came in, "Where's my lawyer?"

"I don't know. You called him," Jim replied as he sat down. He placed his coffee mug and a file on the table and handed Steve a paper cup with water. "Thought you might need this after all the crying earlier."

Steve didn't touch the cup, saying instead, "You're an ass."

Jim shrugged it off. "Yep, but that doesn't change anything, does it? You're still under arrest and your girlfriend's still dead."

Steve sat back in his chair and crossed his arms over his chest. "I still don't get why I'm under arrest."

"I can't talk to you without your lawyer present," Jim replied, sipping his coffee. He watched Steve decide if he could hold his tongue until the attorney showed up. He almost smiled when he saw Steve wet his lips in preparation to saying something.

"What if I want to talk?" he asked.

Jim opened the file and slid a piece of paper and pen towards Steve. "You sign that, saying you waive your right to counsel." Steve took a few moments to think about it, then quickly signed his name and pushed the paper back across the table.

"So, why did you arrest me?"

"Because you're lying."

Steve didn't say a word. He just waited for Jim to continue. It soon became a contest of wills and Steve didn't have as much practice at it as Jim did. He finally caved and said, "I didn't lie."

"Sure you did," Jim replied. "You said you ran outside and looked around for Kriege and Whistler, but didn't see them so you returned to the table to get her phone. We have the video from that night, you weren't seen on the tapes until about five minutes after they went past the front door."

"So, I got the timing wrong. He pushed me and I fell down. Guess it took longer for me to get up than I thought it did."

"Or, maybe you didn't really try to go after her and now you're feeling guilty about it."

"Of course I'm feeling guilty!" Steve shouted. "The love of my life is dead and if I'd done more to stop him, she might still be alive."

"Very true," Jim agreed. "Why were you so calm?"

"Calm? I was anything but calm!"

"The video shows you only going out the front door and looking towards the pier, but then you walked back inside. No jerky motion, no running around trying to figure out which way they went. Nothing. You just stood there and then walked back inside."

Steve shook his head in denial. "Maybe you were looking at a different guy."

"Maybe, but I don't think so." Jim closed the file folder and grabbed his mug. "Since you won't tell me the truth, I'll have to move you to lock up until your lawyer gets here and can talk some sense into you." He opened the door and when Steve didn't say anything, he walked through and told the officer outside, "Take him to lock up."

Jim got into his car without really thinking about where he was going. Before he knew it, he was parked in front of Callie's house. Her car was still in the driveway, so he figured she was inside, but he didn't know what kind of reception he'd get if he knocked on the door. He was about to start up the engine, when the door opened. Jeff bounded out and jumped the front steps, running over to Jim's car.

"Did you hear?" he yelled. "My dad's coming home!"

Jim got out of the car and spotted Callie standing in the doorway watching him. "Yeah, your mom told me."

"Isn't that great?" Jeff fairly danced around Jim in his excitement.

Jim put a hand on Jeff's shoulder and said truthfully, "I'm happy for you. I know you've missed having him around."

"Thanks. I can't wait until we can go out shooting and play hoops and everything!" His exuberance was a sight to see. He didn't notice the sadness in Jim's eyes or the way his shoulders drooped a little with each comment about things they had done together, but now probably wouldn't. He finished in a rush, "I gotta go tell Kevin about this. See ya!"

Jim called out to his retreating back, "See ya." He then turned towards Callie. He walked slowly up to the house, but stood just in front of the porch, not taking the final steps to her door. "Hi."

Callie pushed the screen door open and said, "Hi. Wanna come in?"

Jim gladly climbed those three steps and walked into the house. He looked behind to make sure Jeff wasn't around and leaned in to kiss Callie's delectable lips. She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him back. Before it got too intense, she took a half step back and checked the door again.

"I'm sorry."

Jim gave her a smile and touched her cheek again, "I'm not." Taking another step back, he dropped his hand and said, "I'm sorry too. I didn't mean to come over here."

"So, big case?" she asked with amusement in her voice. They'd been here before, Jim showing up without warning and ignoring their obvious tension in favor of bouncing ideas off her.

"Yeah. Sorta." He moved into the kitchen and pulled a beer from the fridge. After opening it, he offered it to her first, before taking a long pull.

She sat down and asked, "Wanna talk about it?"

"Not as much as I wanted to kiss you," he replied with a smile breaking across his face. She gave him an answering grin. Sobering up a moment later, he said, "I'm not sure what to think about this case."

"So tell me."

"Woman is shot around 2 AM and her body left by the pier. There are two possible suspects. A boyfriend and a husband."

"Did they know about each other?" she asked.

"Not until a couple of days ago."

"Have you talked to both yet?"

"No. We can't find the husband. He's National Guard Reserves and been classified AWOL as of this morning."

Callie mulled over what Jim was and wasn't saying, then got it. "The husband just got home from deployment, didn't he?" Jim nodded. "How long had she been seeing the boyfriend?"

"Almost a year."

"Ah," she replied, seeing the parallels between Jim's case and their relationship. "Had she asked for a divorce?"

"Yeah, served him papers while he was overseas."

Callie winced and mumbled, "Either incredibly brave or incredibly stupid." She paused then looked at Jim, "Obviously incredibly stupid since she's dead."

"Maybe or maybe not," he answered. "I get the feeling the boyfriend isn't telling me everything and his story doesn't quite match with the facts on hand."

"What are they? The facts, I mean."

"Boyfriend and vic were out for the evening and ended up at a bar. Husband came home from deployment and tracked them down. After knocking boyfriend down, he grabbed her and took her outside. Last time we see them, they're on the pier arguing."

"Where was the boyfriend in all this?"

"See? That's what I mean by not matching. He claims he came running out and, after not seeing her, he went back inside to get her cell phone. He said he wanted to call the husband's cell and locate them by the ring."

"Did he actually look for her?"

"Not that we saw. He stepped out of the bar's door, looked towards the pier and then went back inside."

"Was he frantic?"

"Nope."

"Weird. Did you check her phone records?"

"Daniel's working on that."

Callie took the beer from Jim's hand and took a sip, then asked, "If he really loved her, like he said he did, wouldn't he have done more to find her before giving up?"

Taking the bottle back, he agreed, "Yeah, that's my thought. I can't imagine not fighting for the woman in my life, just allowing someone else to take her away." Realizing what he said, he looked into Callie's eyes. "I would fight for her, no matter what it took."

She reached across the table and put her hand on his. "I know you would. Will. That's what makes you who you are."

Jim turned his hand over and folded his fingers over hers. After giving himself a few minutes of contact, he pulled his hand away and had to clear to his throat twice before he could go back to their original topic of discussion. "Would a married woman risk everything for man who would give up without a fight?"

"I know I wouldn't," she answered, giving him a meaningful look. "But maybe she didn't know he was that kind of man. Maybe there'd been no reason for her to believe he wasn't as committed to her as she was to him. Do you know if there were problems between them before the husband returned?"

"Hadn't gotten that far. Just finished talking to him. Then my car drove me over here." He smiled when she gave him a half-raised eyebrow. "Well, it did!" Then he laughed. She joined him. "I better go and see if Daniel found out anything."

They both stood up and walked to the front door. After a quick glance towards the street, Jim leaned down to brush Callie's lips quickly with his own. Involuntarily, the kiss deepened to something that sent sparks into them both. Jim's hand crept to her waist to steady her as he pressed his lips more firmly onto hers. He felt her hand caress his face when he heard footfalls clatter up the front steps.

"HEY!" a young voice shouted.

Jim and Callie immediately broke apart and turned to see Jeff standing on the porch with his mouth open. Callie was the first to move as she shoved Jim out of her way to fling open the screen door. "Jeff," she began, one arm outstretched.

"Don't!" he yelled, backing away from her. "Dad's coming home and you decide it's a good idea to kiss…him?" Jeff didn't wait for a reply, he spun on his heel and fled their presence.

Callie started to run after him, when Jim flashed past her, sprinting after her son. "JEFF," he called out as his long legs closed the distance between him and the boy. "JEFF, STOP!"

Jeff darted between two houses and through an open gate. He threw it shut behind him, stalling Jim's headlong dash for a few critical seconds. By the time Jim got the gate opened, Jeff was gone. He pulled himself up to the top of the fence and looked around. He saw other yards and a small alley between the row of houses, but no Jeff. "Damn," he muttered to himself before going back the way he came.

He found Callie coming back up the street looking equal parts distraught and angry. Jim trotted up to her and said, "He got away."

"Jim," she cried, "he's got to be so hurt."

"I know. I'll go find him."

He pulled out his car keys and started to walk away, when he heard Callie say firmly, "No. You won't." As he turned to face her, she continued, "He won't talk to you, even if you did find him. He's angry and heartbroken. It'll be hard enough for me to talk to him." She shook her head sadly. "I can't believe he saw that."

Jim stayed where he was, but softly apologized, "I'm so sorry, Cal. I never meant for him to find out, not like that."

"I know, Jim. It's my fault. I knew he could be coming home and still I kissed you." She gave him a sorrowful look. "I think it would be best if you didn't come around for a while. I need to make this right with my son. He's got to come first."

"I know. If you think it'll help for me to talk to him…" he trailed off, knowing that as much as he wanted it, he wasn't truly a part of their family, and looking at Callie shaking her head, it didn't look like it would happen anytime soon. "Call if you need me." She nodded distractedly as she walked back into the house. Jim watched her close the door and got into his car to drive away.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Once Jim got back to the station, he found Daniel and asked about Kriege's cell phone records.

"The last incoming call was at 11:30 PM. It was from a phone registered to Jonathan Whistler. The last outgoing call was at 9:01 PM to Steve Carlton," Daniel answered.

"So, he lied about trying to call Whistler's phone," Jim mused. "And why was she calling him at 9? He said they went to dinner and a movie, so she should have been with him." He paused, lost in thought for a moment, then mumbled as he walked out, "Guess we need to check his alibi."

Daniel trotted after him, wanting to follow Dr. Sanchez's instructions to not leave Jim alone. "Can I come too?" he asked as he caught up.

.

As they drove back towards the pier, Daniel used his Blackberry to access Carlton's credit card records. They found the movie tickets, but didn't find any restaurants. "Maybe they used cash," Daniel proffered.

"Or she paid. Or maybe they didn't meet for dinner," Jim mused. "Can you pull up her records?"

A few minutes later, Daniel read, "She had a charge for $56.87 for Roscoe's. Charge was put through at 8:33."

"Where's Roscoe's?"

"About a half mile from Dizzy's."

Jim found a parking spot near the restaurant and got out of the car. Daniel was right behind him as he headed inside. "FDLE," he said, showing his badge to the hostess, "I need to talk to the manager."

She looked a little shocked to see a cop in front of her, but she recovered well. "Sure, um, let me get her for you." She stepped away for a minute, then returned with a tall woman dressed in a bright red dress.

"Hi, I'm Stephanie, how can I help you?" she asked, offering her hand in greeting.

Jim shook her hand, then told her what he needed. "Last night, this woman," he said, showing her Kriege's picture, "had dinner here. I need to know who she ate with."

Stephanie took a good look at the other woman's face and said, "I remember her. She was with another woman, until a man came in."

"Can you describe him?"

"Tall, dark-haired, dressed in Army fatigues. Looked rather pissed off," she answered.

"Did he cause a scene?"

"Not really," she replied. "Once he got to her table, he was intense, but not loud. Looked heated, but we didn't need to ask him to leave."

"How did she react to him?" Jim asked.

"Surprised, then conciliatory."

"What do you mean?"

"I've seen people at their best and worst, maybe not as bad as you have, but couples aren't always quiet about their arguments or celebrations. Ya know?" She shrugged in empathy. "The lady put her hand on his arm and tried to get him to sit down. Her friend got up and went to the ladies' room while they talked. By the time she got back, the soldier was gone."

"Did she seem upset afterward?"

"She was agitated, nervous. They got the bill and left a few minutes later."

"What did the other woman look like? Did you know her?" Jim asked.

"Um, pretty. Red hair, shoulder length. Classy looking. She wore designer clothes, but not with that inflated sense of self-worth, more like it's because she just liked the clothes."

Jim didn't say anything for a moment, so Daniel asked, "I'm sorry, but what do you mean by that?"

"There are women who wear expensive clothes because they expect others to be impressed by their wealth or knowledge of designers or because they have expectations of being treated better. This lady, she just seemed really comfortable in the clothes, like they were her favorite jeans or something." She looked at Jim, "Kinda like how you wear your 'uniform'. Knowing it looks good, but not really caring if anyone else likes it. But back to your question, no, I don't know her, and I know most of my repeat customers."

"Thanks. If you think of anything else, call the FDLE. Okay?" At her answer nod, Jim gestured for Daniel to precede him out. He then asked one last question, "Did you see which way the ladies went after they paid?"

"No, sorry."

Jim stood on the walkway in front of the restaurant looking to see if there were any cameras that might have caught which direction the women went after they left. He also wanted to see where Whistler went after his encounter with Kriege inside. He spied an ATM machine and traffic cam. Pointing them out, he told Daniel, "Get that footage. I'm going to see if anyone else saw either of them after dinner."

.

Callie heard the phone rang and rushed to pick it up. "Jeff?"

"No, it's Judy."

"Oh, hi, Judy. What can I do for you?"

"I thought you'd want to know that Jeff's over here with Tyler."

Callie sagged onto the couch. "Thank God. Is he okay?"

"He's upset, but won't say why. You okay?"

"Yeah. I guess. Maybe."

Judy laughed lightly. "That sounds convincing. Wanna talk about it?"

"No. But thank you."

"I can keep him here for dinner, if you want."

Callie thought about it for a moment. "I want him home, but I know he's really pissed at me right now. So, yeah, if you don't mind."

"No problem. I'll make sure he goes home before bed. Hopefully that will give him some time to cool off and listen to you," Judy offered.

"Me too. Thanks." Callie hung up the phone, feeling a little better about not having Jeff home. She still wanted to talk to him about what he saw, but at least he wasn't wandering the streets getting into trouble.

She got up from the couch with the intention of doing some chores, but when she stepped into her bedroom memories of last night and that morning flooded back. She picked up Jim's shirt and wrapping her hands in it, she held it to her face and breathed in his scent. Giving up the façade of being invincible, she allowed the tears to flow and fell asleep, drained of all emotion.

..

Carlos found Jim and Daniel reviewing the footage they collected from the street outside Roscoe's. "Anything good on the tube?"

Jim answered without turning around, "Just a few boobs who are getting on my last nerve."

"What's new?" Carlos muttered softly.

"Huh?"

"What now?" Carlos answered more loudly.

"Oh, Carlton said he and Kriege went to dinner, but she actually had dinner with a girlfriend. Then the husband showed up, but left without a ruckus. Still no sign of the boyfriend."

"There's now a girlfriend? Wow, busy lady."

Jim rolled his eyes at Carlos. "As in female friend, not _girl_friend."

"Oh, _that_ kind of friend. So sorry for misunderstanding," Carlos replied sarcastically. "Any word about Whistler yet?"

"No. Guard's looking for him, as are we. Hopefully he'll turn up soon. In the meantime, I'm going to talk to Carlton again. He's been lying to me and I'm going to get him to tell the truth."

.

Jim had to wait until Carlton's lawyer returned before he could talk to him, but when he finally got them both into the interview room again, he wasted no time. "Tell me why you did it?"

"Did what?" the lawyer, Jonas Barrows, and Steve asked at the same time.

"Killed her."

"I di…" Steve started, interrupted by the attorney's, "He's not answering that."

"I think he wants to," Jim replied sweetly.

"I don't think so," the lawyer replied.

Jim shrugged, then tried a different tack. "We know you didn't have dinner with her. So why'd you lie about that?"

Steve looked at Jonas, waiting for permission to speak. When he got a quick nod, he said, "I didn't lie, not exactly."

"Not exactly?" Jim's voice expressed his reluctance to believe that statement.

"We were supposed to have dinner, but her girlfriend called at the last minute. She hadn't seen her in months and asked if I'd mind just meeting her for the movie."

"Oh. So, you got ditched for a girlfriend on a night when you and Kriege were both scared that Whistler would show up to, and I quote, 'kill you'? Sorry, don't believe it. Wanna try again?"

Steve turns his hands up as if to say, "I got nothing."

Jim looked at Jonas and said, "I guess we have nothing more to talk about. I'll have your client taken back to holding until he's arraigned."

"Why'd you want us back here if that's all your going to ask?" Jonas queried.

Jim gave him a contemplative look. "You're right. I wanted more. But since you're client's not inclined to talk, not much I can do it about, is there?"

Jonas leaned over to whisper in Steve's ear. A moment later he said, "Alright, you ask. We'll decide if he talks."

"Great," Jim replied. Getting right back into it, he asked, "Did Kriege even know Whistler was back from Iraq?"

Steve looked at his lawyer, then said, "Not really." At Jim's disbelieving look, he revised his statement. "Well, no."

"So, you lied to me about that." Jim nodded his head in agreement. "What else?"

At Jonas' nod, Steve answered, "I didn't want her to worry. I figured she'd find out soon enough and wanted at least one more day with her before he came back."

"But she ditched you for the girlfriend. What's her name?"

"MaryAnn Myers. They've known each other since high school."

"They go out for dinner and…" Jim left the statement open ended.

"And she called me to say Jon showed up."

"I take it she wasn't happy about it."

Steve's silence spoke volumes.

"I'll take that as a yes. Did she read you the riot act?"

Steve mumbled hesitantly, "Yes."

"Okay, now we're getting somewhere. What did she say? Or more accurately, yell?"

Before Steve had a chance to answer, Manus knocked on and opened the door. "Jim." He stood up and closed the door behind him.

"I almost had him talking."

"I know. They found Whistler."

"Who's got him?"

.

Striding into the lab, Jim asked, "Carlos, what happened to him?"

"Three gunshot wounds. One to the shoulder, one to the chest and one to the abdomen."

"Which was the kill shot?"

"Don't know yet. There's a lot of blood, so he probably got hit in the gut first."

"Bullet?"

"9 mil."

"So, same gun as Kriege."

"Won't know until we do some tests, but that would be my guess," Carlos stated. "Daniel's prepping the bullets for ballistics. We'll know in the morning."

"Okay." Jim turned away, then spun back. "How'd you end up with him? I didn't even know they found him."

"Guard found him. Called us because of our case."

"That was nice. Unusual, but nice."

"Yeah. Now scram, I got work to do."

Jim returned to his office. He was still trying to figure out what to do next when Manus stepped in. "Jim, go home. You've been here all day. You can't talk to Carlton until after he's arraigned and Carlos won't have any answers about Whistler until tomorrow at the earliest."

"I'm fine."

"Yeah, I can tell. You look like hell. Go home. I'll call if we catch a break before morning."

Jim didn't have a response to that, so he turned off his computer, grabbed his phone and keys, and walked out.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Sitting on the bench overlooking the water, Jim sipped one of the beers from the cooler at his feet. He set the phone on the seat next to him, not sure if he wanted it to ring and not be Callie or have it be silent knowing she was dealing with everything on her own. By the time he'd gotten through the first six pack, he knew he hated the silence, so he worked his way through most of the second six-pack, hoping for a mind-numbing, dreamless sleep. Dragging his lightly intoxicated ass up to the house, he walked into his bedroom, dropping clothes along the way. He fell into bed, asleep before his head hit the pillow.

Sometime later he heard a knock on the door. Still in a drunken stupor and pulling a robe around him, he stumbled across the tile lined entryway and leaned heavily on the door. "Who's there?" he called out.

"Jim, let me in," Callie replied softly.

Jim wrenched the door open and, indeed it was Callie, look far more beautiful than she had a right too. His balance was a little shaky, so he used the door's edge to stand up straight and ask, "What are you doing here?"

"Jeff came home."

Callie's damp face and lack of details led Jim to believe something bad happened to the boy. But because of his drunken state, he couldn't think or move very quickly. He swayed out of the doorway and allowed her to enter. With him using the door as a pivot point for his movement, he was beginning to feel the effects of seasickness. "Not a pleasant thought," he muttered to himself. "Stand tall, man, your lady love's here."

It appeared that at least part of his head knew what to do. The problem was the fact that it wasn't the thinking half, only the feeling half, which had decided to honor her appearance with a very nice half salute, about as much as his drunken state would allow. Jim laughed at his own private joke, then gave her an abashed look, hoping she'd forgive him a moment of fancy while his brain kicked into gear.

Ushering her into the living room, he asked, "Do you want a beer?"

"Looks like you already had one or two or, I don't know. Jim, how many did you have?" came the query.

"Too many to be considered just toasted, but not quite enough to be called wasted. I think I'm pleasantly … pleasantly …. Punched. That's it. Pleasantly punched." Jim seemed pleased with his answer. Especially given the late hour and proliferation of booze he'd consumed that night.

Callie walked across the room and took Jim's hand. She tugged him towards the kitchen and forced him to sit down on one of the barstools. "Sit, let me get you something for the headache and your toe."

"My toe?" he gasped, peering down at the offending appendage. "What's wrong with it?"

"It's bleeding."

"Oh, so it is." Jim stumbled off the stool as he tried to make out what had happened to his toe. "Hey," he returned to an earlier comment, "what are you doing here?"

"Jeff came home."

"So you said. What happened?" Jim drunk was fading fast in light of Callie's very real and palpable angst.

"He wanted to know about his dad: when he was coming home, whether he'd be able to go with me to pick him up, what he did to get out early and, most importantly for Jeff, if we'd be a family again."

Jim took the two aspirin Callie handed him, along with the glass of cold water. He drank it down gladly, washing away the remnants of beer and sour breath.

"What did you tell him? And hey, where is he now?"

"His grandmother came over tonight. Ray called her after I hung up. She's thrilled to pieces and is planning a welcome home party; wants to redecorate my house so it's more inviting. She doesn't want to hear there might be other options that need to be explored."

"So, Jeff's with Jody." It was more of a statement than question.

"They wanted some time to plan the celebration without me acting as a wet blanket."

"Why were you a wet blanket?" Not that Jim's mind didn't immediately seize on the image of Callie in a wet blanket and needing to be dried off and warmed up. His body was so into the image that he was afraid to look down for fear the half mast had become a full one and was no longer contained by the loose edges of his robe.

Callie caught a glimpse of Jim's dilemma and "accidentally" brushed against him, causing him to flinch, then grab her hips and hold her close. Without moving, she replied, "I also talked to Jeff about us."

Jim let her go like a hot potato, spinning her around so he could see her face when she told him what happened. In an instant, his robe no longer had a gapping problem. "Better than a bucket of cold water," he muttered. In a louder voice he asked, "What happened?"

Callie walked to the fridge and grabbed two beer bottles. Uncapping them both, she sat across the kitchen bar from Jim and said, "He's very angry with me."

"And me, I assume," Jim interjected.

"Yeah, that too." Callie sighed, then continued. "He's thinking it was an aberration, you happened to be around after I got the good news, so it was just a kiss that got a little more intense than it should have."

"What did you say?"

"I tried to tell him that just because I loved his father once and would always love him for his connection to Jeff, that didn't mean I was still in love with Ray. He didn't want to hear it. He still believes that all we need it to spend time together, go out to a nice restaurant and have a quiet night at home to make it all better."

"Will it?"

"Do you really need to ask that?" she asked tiredly. "I know that Jody will be feeding him more crap about how wonderful life will be once Ray's out and how easy it'll be to bring us back together again. I don't understand her. I know he's her son, but why would any woman want her daughter to be involved with a man who has a violent past."

Jim found himself in an odd position. He wanted to kick Ray to the curb and ensure that the family he wanted would be his with little to no interference from Ray. However, he couldn't stand seeing Callie so broken and indecisive about a decision she thought she'd made and only needed to act upon.

"Cal, I know I asked you this earlier, but what do you want?"

Callie stood very close to Jim and placed a sweet, gentle kiss on Jim's lower lip. "That's what I want…and more."

Jim's knees were a little weak – from the booze or the broad, he wouldn't guess – but it caused him to take a sturdier perch on the stool before continuing the conversation. "I like what you want, and want that too. However, …"

"However, you need information. Okay, here's what I have. Ray's been released and should be coming home in tomorrow. One of the requirements is that he come home to a stable location, which the courts believe is with me and Jeff. Jeff is over the moon, and has temporarily decided the kiss between you and me meant nothing, just you taking advantage of a woman in a weak moment. He's with Jody planning Ray's coming home party and I fled their presence to come here."

"Nice recitation," he snipped. Seeing the pain in her eyes, he relented and said, "Sorry. It's all the beer in my system. I know this is tough on you. But at least you know more than you did this morning. Take the day to allow everyone their happiness, then tell Ray you want a divorce. We'll deal with Jeff's anger and indifference together."

"I like it," she answered with a pensive smile. "But how to you expect me to tell Ray he's got to go the same day he gets back?"

Jim had a hard time holding his tongue, more so because of all the beer he'd ingested mere hours before. "I don't know! Maybe by telling him what you planned to tell him on your last visit up there. Maybe tell him you found someone else! Damn it, Callie. He deserves to know. Finding out from anyone other than you could kill him. And while the idea is certainly pleasing in the abstract, it's not what I want to happen in reality."

"Well, that's good. Jeff's mad enough at you, if you killed his father – directly or indirectly – you'd never have a chance with either of us again!"

"See! That's what I mean. I can't do what instantly comes to mind because it'll cause you even more heartache. So I have to come up with a better plan." Jim paused. Something just clicked into place in the back of his brain. Unfortunately he was still too wasted to figure out which thread to pull to make it all come together. Instead, he took one step towards Callie and lifted her onto the marble counter so she was on level with his face.

"Callie," he whispered as he spread her legs and stepped between them. "Right now, I'm going to make love to you, to remind you of how much you're adored and wanted. I'm going to take all the time I didn't have last night or this morning to worship you and make you scream my name over and over again. But if you don't want this, you better say something now, or you'll be here until well past dawn."

Callie's answer was a wrapping of her arms and legs around his shoulders and waist. She kissed his lips and parted them gently with her tongue. Jim's was there to meet it and start the duel of wills that would soon play out on a much larger scale.

Jim placed his hands under her hips and lifted her away from the table. Then walked a broken path to his bedroom on the second floor. At one point, he was in fear of tipping over because he was so intent on making Callie feel loved and adored, he forgot that stairs require more than a fraction of attention to navigate safely. Callie reached out one hand and grasped the hand rail to keep their balance straight and propel them upward.

Jim returned to his bedroom, began shedding another set of clothes and laid down on the luxurious mattress. Thankfully he only had a robe to toss from his own body, but Callie's was providing a much more interesting task to fulfill. First he unbuttoned her shirt, kissing the skin exposed by its removal. Once it was tossed onto the floor, he worked his magic on her bra, which offered no resistance to his ministrations. The last bastion of her wardrobe was the small scrap of silk between her legs.

Jim nuzzled his face into the silk, drinking in the aroma that was uniquely hers. He touched the tip of his tongue to the point where her own moisture had soaked through. He groaned and while gripping her hips with firm hands, he pulled her to him and buried his face in her femininity, tasting, touching and breathing her in. As Callie arched her back in response, Jim pulled the damp panties down her beautiful legs and then kissed the curls that now lay open to his gaze.

"Jim," she cried, placing her hands on his head, "that's, that's…" her voice trailed off as pleasure mounted.

He smiled into her body and continued to wage a war on her senses. It wasn't long before she screamed out her first climax and started the slide back to herself, when Jim slid his fingers into her body and kept the pressure up on the small nub that focused so much of her passion. "Jim, Jim," she huffed, barely able to catch her breath. "Oh…my…god! Oh, Jim! Jim! AAAAAAAAH!" Her final cries slowly died out as she sagged back onto the bed, sated and warm.

Jim pulled her to him and cuddled her close in his arms. "That's not fair," Callie mumbled sleepily.

"Sure it is. It gives me pleasure to give you pleasure. Besides, I'm not sure I could, ahem, perform in my current state."

Callie's hand crept down his body to find him primed and ready for use. "Oh, I don't know about that. I think you might be able to perform to my standards." She rolled onto his chest and allowed her legs to open as they straddled his hips. She was a mere fraction of an inch from impaling herself on him, when he asked, "Are you sure?" In answer, she sat back and he slid all the way inside of her. Their combined hisses echoed around the room.

Jim felt her settle deeply over his groin as her hands took up residence over his pecs. She rocked slowly at first, kneading his chest muscles with each forward thrust. Then she trailed her fingers down his abs as she rocked backward.

Jim raised his knees to give her something to push against and allowed his hands to wander at will. He followed the contours of her thighs to the beautiful hips currently wringing moans of ecstasy from his lips. As he became bolder in his touch, he massaged the muscles in her calves, thus pulling himself from a prone position on the bed, to an active participant in creating an insulated world for just the two of them, even if it was just for one night.

Callie's rhythm changed and Jim, not wanting her to go it alone, altered his pace enough to put them back in sync. Callie reached her peak first, but Jim was only a heartbeat behind her.

They lay curled around each other, Callie with her head on Jim's chest and his arms wrapped lovingly around her. The moment was perfect and they felt sated, yet whole. Sleep caught them unawares, and as they drifted off, Jim whispered, "I love you, Callie Cargill." She didn't answer, but it didn't matter to him, he said it and meant it. He closed his eyes and slept.

Morning came all too coon. Even though they'd made love several times, including once in the pool as the sun rose over the water, they didn't want to be parted from each other. If morning was determined to appear, they were just as determined to squeeze out every last moment of bliss before the real world intruded again.

Jim was running a brush through Callie's freshly washed hair when his phone rang. He thought about not answering it, but with his current case in flux, he couldn't afford to ignore it.

"Longworth." Still brushing her hair, he listened intently to the caller. "Yeah. Got it. Be there in…" he checked the clock, "thirty minutes." He listened again, then replied, "I need a shower. Bad night. Lots of beer."

Callie heard mumbling through the phone and mouthed, "Carlos?" to Jim. He nodded and used his hand to indicate Carlos was yakking his ear off.

"Carlos, man, it'll take me forty minutes to get there. Why? Because you won't shut up. I'm hanging up now. Bye." Jim flipped the phone closed and smiled at Callie. "He said to tell you good morning."

"He knows I'm here?" she shrieked, acting like a teenager caught by her parents.

"He doesn't, he was just guessing," Jim replied. "Besides, he was right. So what?"

"So what? Aren't you working a case where the husband found out about the lover and now the wife's dead? Don't you think that's a bit close for comfort?" Callie's breathing became a little jagged as images of what could happen should Ray and Jim ever meet flooded her mind.

Jim saw the tension creep into her shoulders and gave them a brief squeeze before dropping a kiss on her head and walking away to get dressed.

"What are you going to do today?" he asked casually.

"I get to pick Ray up from prison and bring him home."

Jim nodded, then asked the last question he should, "Who's home?"

Callie turned towards him, leaning back against the dresser. "Good question. He wants to move back in with us. He wants his old life back."

"I hear a 'but'…"

"But…" she emphasized, "I don't want that life anymore. Jeff's probably going to hate me, and you, for this, but I'm taking him to Jody's. I don't want him to think we're reconciling. I don't know how soon I'll ask for the divorce, but I don't want to give him mixed signals in the meantime."

"Mixed signals? Oh, am I stupid," Jim muttered before practically running out the door. He got a few steps down the hallway before coming back and saying, "Sorry, you just helped me with the case. Call me later and let me know how today went." He stepped into the room and kissed her with all the love and passion not depleted after last night. "See ya," he said when he could talk again.

"See ya," she echoed. When Jim left the house and drove away, she said to herself, "I love you too."


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Jim fairly flew to the station. Between his late night visitor and a possible break in the case, he was feeling no pain.

Spying Daniel in the hall, he shouted, "Hey, can you find the girlfriend? Try all the restaurants and hotels Kriege charged. I wanna talk to her today." Daniel nodded in assent and went to his desk to dig up whatever he could on the mystery friend.

Jim sauntered into Carlos' lab holding one of his golf clubs. He took a couple of practice swings under Carlos' watchful eye. "What did you find?"

"Other than an about-face for Mr. Sourpuss?" Jim's look could have curdled milk. Carlos went on as if he hadn't noticed. "It was definitely the same gun used for both murders. We also have a partial thumbprint from the shell casing found near Whistler's body."

"That's good news."

"Gets even better," Carlos gloated.

"I'm on the edge of my seat," Jim quipped.

"You should be, the print doesn't belong to Whistler or Carlton."

"Really?"

"Yeah, really. Even more interesting is that it appears to be a woman's thumb."

Jim's eyes connected with Carlos'. In unison, they said, "The girlfriend!"

Jim continued, "She truly was a girlfriend, not just a friend of the same sex."

"I know how I got there, but you jumped about five steps to end up with the same conclusion. How?"

"Something Callie said about mixed signals."

"You're giving Callie mixed signals?" Carlos queried.

"No!" Jim shook his head emphatically. "She was talking about not wanting to give Ray mixed signals about a reconciliation. Made me wonder why we didn't see a lot of men's clothes or bathroom supplies at Kriege's place."

Carlos pointed out, "We weren't really looking for any of that."

"True, but what there was, looked more like a sleepover, not the sort of thing you'd expect from a live-in boyfriend or lover. Not like Carlton described it."

"No, it's not," Carlos agreed.

.

Jim met Daniel in the hallway, "Good news, I hope."

"I think so. MaryAnn was with Kriege a lot more than most girlfriends are."

"Carlton told us the ladies hadn't seen each other in a month. How often did they get together?"

"Three, four times a week. Sometimes for lunch or a day at the spa, but it was usually dinner at a nice restaurant."

"What about hotels?"

"I could only find two records of both women at the same hotel."

"One was in St. Augustine and the other here in Palm Glades three nights ago."

"How did you.." Daniel shook his head in exasperation. "Never mind. She's supposedly at work, the Mercedes Benz dealership on Grand."

Jim swung his club a couple of times as he walked back to his office. He was whistling a nonsensical tune when he ran into Manus.

"Got some sleep?" she asked.

Jim startled at her voice, then grinned. "Yeah."

Manus didn't comment, just smiled in return. "Carlos told me you have a break in the case."

"Yeah. Going to get the girlfriend and bring her in."

"Go." Jim didn't wait for her to continue.

.

Jim approached the red haired woman standing next to a silver CLS. "MaryAnn Myers?"

"Yes." She gave Jim the once over and decided he couldn't afford one of her cars, so she didn't bother to ask if she could help him.

"FDLE. I need you to come down to the station with me."

"Why?"

"Murder." He motioned for one of the uniformed officers to handcuff her and take her to the squad car. He gave the CLS an admiring look, then followed.

.

Jim watched MaryAnn through the one-way glass. She didn't seem nervous or on edge. She was cool and collected. She didn't fidget or squirm in her seat. She had her hands folded primly in her lap, with one leg crossed demurely over the other. She hadn't changed positions in almost ten minutes. Grabbing his cup of coffee, he went in.

"You waived your right to counsel."

She nodded.

"Tell me about Kriege Whistler."

"She was my friend."

"From St. Augustine?"

"Yes."

"We can do this one question at a time, if you want, but it'll be better if you just tell me what happened."

She arched one perfectly plucked eyebrow and tilted her head to the right. "What fun would there be in that?"

"True," he agreed, taking a sip of coffee. "But it might make things easier with the DA if you cooperate. Instead of getting stuck in prison for life, you might eventually make parole." Jim gave her a discerning glance, "You might even be young enough to still wear clothes like that when you got out."

That got a reaction out of her. "These clothes never go out of style, Detective. That's why they're classics."

"Oh, right. Sorry. I'm a jeans and T-shirt kinda guy."

She sniffed in disgust, but didn't say anything.

"Okay, let me tell you what I've got and you can fill in any gaps. You and Kriege met while she lived in St. Augustine with her husband, Corporal Jonathan Whistler. During his first deployment to Iraq, you two became close. But it wasn't until his second deployment that you and she started a romantic, physical relationship." He watched her eyes, to see if he got things right. "Kriege moved down here to get some distance between her and the National Guard base. She may have wanted a divorce, but she didn't want her relationship with another woman to mar her husband's career."

MaryAnn nodded involuntarily. Jim continued.

"You took a job with the local car dealership to be with her. You had high hopes that she'd get her divorce soon so you wouldn't have to sneak around anymore." Jim paused, then abruptly asked, "Is Steve Carlton your brother or your cousin?"

"Cousin."

"What happened? Whistler didn't want to give Kriege a divorce without knowing why, so you and Carlton decided to give her a boyfriend?"

"Correct. That bastard was too much of a macho man to ever agree to let Kriege go if she was involved with another woman, or even if she just wanted to be alone. So we gave her a male lover."

"He reacted as desired, didn't he? He flew into a rage and drove down here to confront her, but instead of finding her with Steve, he found her with you."

"He said he knew she couldn't have been cheating on him, basically patted her on the head and left. She laughed it off, saying at least he wasn't going to give her a hard time about the divorce. But I knew he wasn't going to give her the divorce. Without a 'valid' reason for her wanting to leave him, he never would have signed the papers. So I had to give him one."

"You called and told him about Steve and let it drop where they'd be later that night."

She nodded, crying, "I didn't think he'd kill her. I just thought he'd be mad enough to give her what she wanted. When Steve told me Jon left the bar with her, I freaked out."

"You must have been close by and saw him drag her out onto the pier."

"I was. My cousin's a good guy, but he wanted Kriege too. That's why we thought it would work so well. Steve was very attracted to her and could make it look like they were an item."

"Did she know about the set-up?"

"No. We were all there together, but I left the table just before Jon came in. I didn't want him to see me again."

"Did you see them leave?"

"No. Steve ran back to get me from the ladies' room. We ran out the front together, but I'm the one who ran to the pier to find her. I saw them arguing, but didn't get to them before they went down to the sand. By the time I got there, she was dead. I couldn't do anything to save her. So I grabbed the gun and ran."

"How'd you find Whistler?"

"I knew where he was staying," she admited. "It was a dump, just off the highway. So I waited until I heard morning traffic and shot him.

"How many times?"

"Three. My hands were shaking so bad, I could hardly hold the gun steady. He laughed at me, said I wasn't a real woman, that he'd show me what a real woman wanted. He said he was going to take the gun from me and use it to rape me and then kill me like he did Kriege. I pulled the trigger. The first shot hit him in the chest, but that only enraged him. He started towards me and I shot him again. He went down, holding his gut and screaming obsenities at me." She started shaking at the memory. Her hands clasped together around an imaginary gun. "Then he was screaming in pain and the traffic noises were dying down. I stood over him and pulled the trigger one last time. He stopped moving."

"What did you do with the gun?"

"I threw it off the end of the pier."

Jim thumped the table lightly. "Okay. We're done. I'm going to have to charge your cousin for hindering prosecution, but he should get off with a slap on the wrist."

"Thank you," MaryAnn said quietly. "I loved her, you know. I would have done anything for her."

"I know. You just proved it."

.

Callie sat outside the prison fence, waiting for Ray to appear at the gate. Jeff had wanted desperately to come with her, but she told him it would be best if he waited at Jody's to help with the party. He wasn't happy, but that wasn't unusual right now. She couldn't deal with both Ray and Jeff right now. One was going to be hard enough.

Eventually the gate opened and Ray stood there, freshly shaven and dressed in civilian clothes. She hadn't seen him in anything but prison duds for almost two years. He looked a lot like the man she'd fallen in love with all those years ago. She got out of the car and stood waiting for him to cross the street.

"Hi," she said as he approached.

"Hi, baby," he said, pulling her into his arms for a hug. He placed a kiss on her lips, but didn't try to deepen it. Letting her go, he said, "I know we got a lot to talk about, but can we just get out of here? I'm tired of looking at this place."

"Yeah," she said getting into the car and starting it up again. As they go under way, she stated, "Your mom's got a party planned at the house. A lot of people are looking forward to seeing you."

Ray stared at her from the passenger seat, "I'd rather just be with you and my little man. We need to reconnect. It's been too long."

"It has, Ray. There's so much we need to discuss."

"Later, baby. Later. Just get me home."

Callie didn't know how to respond, so she just stared ahead, hoping her future would be as easy to navigate as the road in front of her.


End file.
